'People are screaming'

"We get on the plane, we're flying and next of all the oxygen mask comes down, we're left in darkness for 15 minutes, there's no reassurance just people shouting 'emergency, emergency'," Sarah McGarry told the newspaper.

"There was a newborn baby and children on the flight, people are screaming and we don't know what's going on for 15 minutes . . . Then finally we're told that we're going to Germany."

Another passenger told the newspaper: "It was really scary, there were three to four minutes (that felt like an hour) when the plane was falling fast and I thought we were done for".

'Abandoned in the airport'

Passengers also criticised their treatment once they had landed, saying they had not been given enough food and drink and had been forced to sleep on a concrete basement floor or on camp beds.

Spanish passenger Minerva Galvan said on social media that those on board had been "abandoned" at Frankfurt Hahn airport after going through a "very scaring moment".

Ms McGarry, who was with three children, said her eardrum burst during the descent but said she did not go to hospital because she was not told whether she would get back to the airport in time to catch the rescheduled flight.

In its statement Ryanair said it would pay for hotels for the affected passengers but added that there was a "shortage of available accommodation".